PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
IVF (8 February 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Institute of Clinical Excellence's guidelines on access criteria for IVF, (a) what recent assessment he has made of the availability of IVF treatment on the NHS for women up to the age of 40 across Clinical Commissioning Groups in England and (b) what steps he is taking to address the variations in availability of IVF treatment in England.

Asked by:
Dame Caroline Dinenage (Conservative)

The Department does not collect this information centrally.

The Government expects local National Health Service (NHS) commissioning bodies to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, so that there is equitable access across England.

We are aware that some commissioners set additional non-clinical criteria. This is outside the best clinical practice and is not fair to patients with infertility.

The Department undertook an internal policy review about the variation in access to NHS fertility services, which was completed in 2021. The results of this review will inform our ambitions in the Women’s Health Strategy, which is due to be published in the Spring.

Answered by:
Maria Caulfield (Conservative)
16 February 2022